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By Brown Chimezie
Olive Ude, a lawyer and businessman of Enugu State origin has hailed the Federal High Court Abuja judgement that cleared Gov Peter Mbah of forging his NYSC certificate. He said the allegation was a gang-up by the NYSC and the Labour Party to discredit Mbah, and stated that those the governor was striving to save ‘fed him poison’. He also discussed other national issues.
The Federal High Court in Abuja has cleared Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State of the accusations of forging his NYSC certificate, what is your take?
Lord Denning, famously said, “if it were not for injustice, man would not know justice. It’s the denial of justice not to stretch out a helping hand to the fallen, that is the common right of humanity: Blessed are they who maintain jus- tice, who constantly do what is right in a wicked world. The Court of equity, justice, and fairness will always rise to the occasion to protect the rights of the innocent.”
The Labour Party governorship candidate in the last governorship election in Enugu State,
in collaboration with the Director General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) used social media to assassinate the character of
Gov. Peter Mbah. They painted a picture that looked real to malign his character and present an innocent man as a common criminal. Adolf Hitler’s chief propagandist, Josef Gobbels, was popular with the infamous saying,’say a lie, make it big, repeat it often, and everybody would believe it to be true.’ That was exactly what the NYSC DG and Labour Party did to Gov. Mbah. It was trending everywhere that Mbah forged his NYSC discharge certificate.
Peter Mbah was mobilised for service, report- ed to the camp, posted to the place of primary assignment and he did his national assignment; he was cleared and there was no letter from NYSC to the contrary so on what basis would Dr. Peter Mbah forge his discharge certificate?
It doesn’t make any sense; it is not enough to accuse somebody of criminal wrongdoing. The burden to prove an allegation is on the accuser. A court of law and equity abhors injustice and would always presume an accused to be innocent until proven guilty in a court, not on social media.
I was not surprised by the judgement of Justice Inyang Ekwo, my only apprehension was let there not be a miscarriage of justice consider- ing the country that we find ourselves in, where anything goes.
Do you think the N5 million judgement fine against NYSC is adequate?
Well, in monetary terms, no amount of money is enough compensation for character assassination. Do you know what happens when your character is assassinated? Everybody would run away from you,your wife and children would show some kind of resentment and doubt. The reputation you built over decades will evaporate within minutes. Your business associates will cast doubt on your credibility and your business empire will crumble and you would become a loner. How much money do you think can compensate for that? So, for me it is not about the money. It is about the truth prevailing against evil. Justice Ekwo has laid to rest that authored, orchestrated, choreographed episode played by the people Dr. Peter Mbah trusted and referred to as his own people. The story of Dr. Mbah is like that of the biblical Joseph who was betrayed by his own brothers out of envy and jealousness. It is beyond politics, it is an act of wickedness, envy, and jealousy.
I am part of this fight and struggle, so l can vividly testify to the goodness of God, the entire truth regarding Dr. Mba ordeal, the men behind it, and their sole objectives. The entire story of certificate forgery is a facade but the God of the innocent is with Dr. Mbah and will continue to guide and protect him against unnumbered foes.
How worried was the governor over the certificate forgery accusation?
He is a human being with flesh and blood like any other person but he was not really bothered about the malicious accusations because he knew he did nothing wrong and that evidence at his disposal, especially NYSC document will serve as his defence and clear his name.
He was, however, disappointed that the people he was working to give a good life were those out to destroy his reputation and image. The magnitude of his achievements within the first six months in office would tell you that he was not distracted. Rather, he was emboldened to fight for the good people of Enugu. Mbah does not give excuses and does not take excuses for failure, he is a man on a mission. He came into the office with the mindset to right the accumuated wrongs in Enugu State. He had expected his people to embrace him with open arms, but they fed him poison, betrayal, and character as- sassination. The economy of Enugu State is just about $ 3 billion and he wants to push it up to
$ 40 billion within his terms of office. So, he is bent on achieving that and would not allow anything to distract him. From onset, he knew he was wrongly accused and that at the end of the day the truth would prevail and it had prevailed.
What advice do you have for the people of Enugu now that the issue of certificate forgery has been laid to rest?
The vision of Governor Mbah transcends Enugu State. His vision is for the South East, Nigeria, and Africa as a whole. He has started with the transformation of the economy of Enugu State in particular and South East in general, but l urge him to look out for broader economic expansion beyond South East and Nigeria. Africa as a continent is yearning for leadership, and it will not be out of place to tell you one is here with us in the person of Dr. Mbah . The $40 billion economy that he is building is for the revamping of South East economy for the greater needs of Ndi Igbo.
zI appeal to the Igbo worldwide to key into the projects and visions of Governor Mbah. For example, the Oji River Industrial City project that he is building at Ugwuoba, just one kilometres away from the popular Nnamdi Azikiwe Uni- versity, Awka is designed to integrate the Enugu State and Anambra State economy and foster trade and commerce between the two states.
On completion, it would be the biggest trading centre in the whole of Africa. The Oji River Industrial City would be situated on 5000 hectares of land and would have more than 150,000 shops and businesses premises, malls, housing developments, schools, hospitals, recreation centres and a lot of other things that would make live worth living.
